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Just months after receiving more than $1.5 billion in rate cuts and rebates, customers of Southern California Edison will see electricity rates rise about 3% this year. The rate increase announced Thursday will add about $1.50 to the monthly bill for an average household and about $3 to the monthly bill for a typical small business served by SCE, said Akbar Jazayeri, SCE's director of revenue and tariffs. The increase is effective Jan. 1 and should begin appearing on customer bills next month.

Edison International's Southern California Edison, the state's second-largest utility, will be allowed to use $1.2 billion from unpaid dividends for operating expenses, California regulators said. The state's Public Utilities Commission voted 5 to 0 for the resolution. The Office of Ratepayer Advocates, a consumer protection arm of the PUC, had urged the panel to reject it, saying the money should be used to pay debt. Shares of Rosemead-based Edison rose 41 cents to close at $15.48 on the NYSE.

Edison International posted a third-quarter net loss Friday while its troubled utility saw operating earnings jump threefold, illustrating how Southern California Edison will pay its big debts. Rosemead-based Edison International said it lost $413 million during the quarter, or $1.27 a share, reflecting a $1.15-billion write-down from a recent half-price sale of two power plants in Britain and sluggish performance by its non-utility subsidiaries.

A federal law judge Tuesday recommended that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission prohibit Southern California Edison from merging with San Diego Gas & Electric because the combination would stifle utility competition, generate few benefits for utility customers and further degrade Southern California air quality.

State regulators Thursday ordered Southern California Edison to tell a San Diego-based consumer group how much it has spent on local lawyers and consultants related to its proposed merger with San Diego Gas & Electric. But Lynn Carew, an administrative law judge with the state Public Utilities Commission, did not order the Rosemead-based utility to describe how much individual consultants and attorneys are being paid.

SCEcorp, the parent company of Southern California Edison Co., on Wednesday raised the value of its stock swap merger bid for San Diego Gas & Electric to $2.16 billion from $2.12 billion, according to spokesmen at both utilities. SCEcorp has demanded a response from SDG&E's board of directors by the close of business today.

San Diego Gas & Electric Chairman Thomas Page on Wednesday denied a local consumer group's allegations that executives from Southern California Edison have taken control of the San based utility. "Contrary to what some might suggest, I'm not being 'puppetized,' " Page said Wednesday during an interview in his downtown San Diego office. "I am in charge of this business, I am running this corporation on a daily basis."

The chairman of SCEcorp offered San Diego Gas & Electric board member Malin Burnham a seat on SCEcorp's board of directors several days before SDG&E accepted a proposed merger with Southern California Edison, a former SDG&E board member said Wednesday. O.

Rosemead-based SCEcorp on Friday formally requested state approval to acquire San Diego Gas & Electric and merge it into SCE's Southern California Edison subsidiary. SCE previously had given regulators informal notice of its intended $2.16-billion stock-swap offer. In the filing, SCE described its proposed merger as "potentially superior" to SDG&E's proposed merger with Tucson Electric Power, a coal-rich public utility in Arizona.

A Superior Court judge in San Diego will hear SCEcorp's demand that San Diego Gas & Electric turn over its shareholder mailing list to SCE, the parent company of Southern California Edison, spokesmen for both companies said Monday.